If you're planning on adding fruit production to your backyard garden, you may have run across the term “everbearing.” But what does everbearing mean? And more importantly, how do everbearing varieties differ from non-everbearing types?
What Does Everbearing Mean
At first mention of the term “everbearing,” gardeners may mistakenly believe they've discovered the ultimate fruit plant. Images of plants continuously laden with fruit year after year pop into one's mind. Unfortunately for gardeners, this is not the case.
Fortunately for everbearing varieties of plants, this is also not the case. Fruit production is the method plants use to protect their seeds while they mature. As part of the reproductive process, growing fruit requires a large expenditure of energy. Everbearing plants spread out the process of fruit production to give their seeds multiple opportunities for survival.
The term “everbearing” is often associated with particular varieties of berry plants which produce fruit multiple times a year or continuously throughout the season. Some types of citrus are also everbearing. Due to reproductive energy demands, many everbearing varieties don't produce as much fruit annually as varieties which bear all their fruit in a single crop.
Types of Everbearing Plants
Strawberries and red raspberries are the most common types of everbearing plants. Strawberry varieties are generally classified as June-bearing, everbearing or day-neutral. June-bearing strawberries produce one large crop of berries annually, while everbearing strawberries produce two to three smaller crops per year.
Oddly, day-neutral strawberries better fit the image of everbearing plants. This type of strawberry sets fruit throughout the growing season. Day-nuetral neutral strawberries don't produce prolific amounts of fruit at a time, but they can provide a steady supply of fresh strawberries for table use.
Red raspberries have a similar timing for fruit production as everbearing strawberries. Summer-bearing red raspberry varieties fruit once per year. Everbearing plants produce red raspberries in the fall on new stems and again the next summer on two-year-old canes.
In addition to strawberries and red raspberries, Prim-Ark Freedom is an everbearing, thornless blackberry variety released by the University of Arkansas. While other blackberries produce one crop per year, this newer variety bears a fall crop on first year primocanes and a summer crop the second season.
Everbearing Fruit Trees
Unlike strawberries and bramble fruit, everbearing fruit trees have an extended harvest period rather than multiple periods of fruit production per year. The everbearing mulberry, which is available as a full-sized tree or a dwarf variety, bears ripe fruit throughout the growing season. Mulberries look and taste like blackberries, but are much easier to harvest.
The following citrus cultivars and crosses are also everbearing fruit trees. They produce fruit throughout the entire year in warmer climates and when grown indoors as container plants:
- Eureka lemon
- Lisbon lemon
- Meyer lemon
- Mexican lime
- Perrine (lemon and lime cross)
- Ponderosa (lemon and citron cross)
- Tahiti lime
- Variegated Pink Eureka lemon
-
Forage For Herbs: 7 Tasty And Safe Wild Herbs To Pick Close To Your Own BackyardIn addition to growing your own herbal staples, did you know there are several wild options out there that are safe and tasty – and free? Try foraging these 7 wild herbs
-
Should You Cut Back Roses In The Fall? – When To Prune Your Prized Shrubs For WinterDiscover whether to cut back roses before the onset of winter – or to leave plants alone until spring.
-
How To Protect Fruit Trees From Frost And FreezeChoosing fruit trees appropriate for your growing zone is best, but you still may need to protect them from extreme cold. Read how.
-
Best Plants For Late Summer and Fall Fruit HarvestEven if you don’t have the optimal conditions for more common fruit trees, there are other end of summer fruits to enjoy.
-
Best Native Fruit Trees To Support WildlifeIf you want trees that will attract and feed wildlife, learn the best kinds of edible fruit and nut trees to plant for inviting specific creatures.
-
Orange Fruit Varieties: Growing Fruits That Are OrangeOrange colored fruit isn’t limited to the citrus orange. There are plenty of other orange colored fruit varieties, each packing a healthful punch. Read on for more.
-
Plant A Red Fruit Garden: Growing Fruits With Red FleshPlanting a red fruit garden may seem a bit whimsical. That is, until you realize the health benefits of consuming fruits with red flesh.
-
Heat Tolerant Fruits - Growing Fruit In Hot WeatherSome fruit grows in extreme heat naturally. But there are also specially cultivated, heat-tolerant varieties. For more information on heat tolerant fruits, read on.
-
Yellow Fruit Varieties - Growing Fruit That Is YellowWhat fruit is yellow? There's more than the bananas at the supermarket. Try growing yellow fruit for a consistent supply of sunny food.
-
Post Harvest Cooling Guide – How To Cool Fruit Picked From The GardenPost-harvest cooling of fruit is used both commercially and by home gardeners. Cooling fruit is important for harvest quality. Click here to learn more.
